diff --git a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_pcl.c b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_pcl.c
index 1f8f7dad8b6f..18d1045799ce 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_pcl.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_pcl.c
@@ -213,7 +213,6 @@ bool pcl_alloc_write(struct svc_rdma_recv_ctxt *rctxt,
 		chunk = pcl_alloc_chunk(segcount, 0);
 		if (!chunk)
 			return false;
-		list_add_tail(&chunk->ch_list, &pcl->cl_chunks);
 
 		for (j = 0; j < segcount; j++) {
 			segment = &chunk->ch_segments[j];
@@ -225,6 +224,7 @@ bool pcl_alloc_write(struct svc_rdma_recv_ctxt *rctxt,
 			chunk->ch_length += segment->rs_length;
 			chunk->ch_segcount++;
 		}
+		list_add_tail(&chunk->ch_list, &pcl->cl_chunks);
 	}
 	return true;
 }
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_recvfrom.c b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_recvfrom.c
index 15c1d8ae5301..f6a7533a7555 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_recvfrom.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/svc_rdma_recvfrom.c
@@ -510,10 +510,13 @@ static bool xdr_check_write_chunk(struct svc_rdma_recv_ctxt *rctxt)
 		return false;
 
 	/* Before trusting the segcount value enough to use it in
-	 * a computation, perform a simple range check. This is an
-	 * arbitrary but sensible limit (ie, not architectural).
+	 * a computation, perform a simple range check. A zero
+	 * segcount describes no remote buffer and is rejected so
+	 * downstream consumers never see a degenerate ch_segcount==0
+	 * chunk. The upper bound is an arbitrary but sensible limit
+	 * (ie, not architectural).
 	 */
-	if (unlikely(segcount > rctxt->rc_maxpages))
+	if (segcount == 0 || unlikely(segcount > rctxt->rc_maxpages))
 		return false;
 
 	p = xdr_inline_decode(&rctxt->rc_stream,